'Public to pay for Napocor debts'

The public will pay between P500 billion and P700 billion for loans incurred by the National Power Corp. (Napocor) once the state power firm is sold, two administration congressmen said yesterday.

Rep. Joker Arroyo (LAMP, Makati) said the power industry reform bill that the House of Representatives approved on Wednesday passes on to the people some P500 billion in Napocor debts.

"A total of P250 billion in debts of Napocor would be assumed by the government - that is, the taxpayers. The other P250 billion in stranded costs would be paid through a universal levy (a tax) added to the cost of electricity paid for by the consumer. Either way, the public pays for it," he said.

Another LAMP lawmaker, Rep. Ernesto Herrera of Bohol, said the people must be told how much in levy they would have to pay "especially since the Napocor debts they will be made to shoulder would amount to more than P700 billion."

Herrera revealed that the Department of Energy (DOE) had commissioned a study to determine the specific amount that would be added to the consumer's electric bills to pay for Napocor loans.

He said he could not understand why the DOE does not want to release the results of the study, which was funded by the Asian Development Bank with a $700,000 grant.

He attributed the discrepancy in the figures on Napocor indebtedness to the failure of the power sector reform bill's sponsors to give those who opposed the measure accurate data.

The Bohol congressman has said the state power company stands to make a clean profit of at least P3 billion annually if it is not saddled with a huge indebtedness.

The fact that it is being cleaned of its loans before it is sold makes it an attractive investment, he said.

Earlier, opposition Rep. Oscar Moreno (Lakas, Misamis Oriental) passed the bill without even determining the exact magnitude of the state power firm's financial obligations.

Arroyo said the amount of loans that the public would be made to shoulder is roughly equivalent to the national budget.

He said the "naive House," by approving the power industry restructuring bill, "throws wide open to executive cronies another round of corruption, this time bigger than all the others in the past."

He said there will be opportunities for corruption at every step of the reform process, beginning with the sale of Napocor power plants.

"Napocor assets would be divided into seven parts when these are sold. Seven golden opportunities for corruption," he added.

He stressed that the eventual sale of the power company's transmission facilities would be another opportunity for corruption.

"Will the rates go down? The proponents say yes. But that is what they said when we deregulated oil? It did not happen. So how can the public believe such assurance? Damn the public," he said.

For his part, Deputy Minority Leader Sergio Apostol (Lakas, Leyte) said the power industry reform measure would be a bad law since the House rushed it.

"The new law is defective because it passes on to the taxpayers the loans of Napocor. Sugarcoating this with a promised five percent reduction in power rates is just fooling the public. We consumers all end up paying for this huge bailout," he said.

Apostol also said the bill allows bigger companies to totally dominate the power industry.

"The small providers will be heard put to survive in the new economic regime that will arise," he added.

The bill's sponsors led by Rep. Arnulfo Fuentebella (LAMP, Camarines Sur), chairman of the House energy committee, have said the measure would eventually result in lower power rates because of competition.